Conveyer control



Feb. 28, 1933. D. E.y KEI-:CH

' CONVEYER CONTROL I Filed Jan. 28, 19:50

2 Sheets-Sheet l Patented Feb. 28, `1933 Y UNITE-n 7 sfr-aras'A PATENT N OFFICE i .umu E. um, or GLENDALE, Caml-cama Application led January 28, 1930. Serial No. 424,085.

My invention relates to conveyer `controls portion of an article from its normal path and particularly to such controls as are autoto facilitate such an operative engagement. matically operated by articles carried on the `The manner of accomplishing the foregoconveyer. ing objects and advantages will be made man- JWhile my invention is adaptable to many ifest in' the following description and in the 55 different situations involving conveyers, the accompanying drawings in which:

' embodiment of it disclosed herein comprises Fig. 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodian a'utomatic conveyer intersection switch. ment of my mvention.

The general purpose of such switches is to Fig. 2 is `a vertical cross sectional view prevent articles onv 'afeeder conveyer from taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. 60 fouling those carried on a main conveyer Figs. 3,- 4 and 5` are diagrammatic planV onto which the feeder discharges. Switches views similar to Fig. 1 and, taken in connecare in general use for this purpose but they tion with that figure, illustrate the operation all fall short of satisfactorily accomplishing of the invention.

.15 it. The principal difliculty seems to have Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical 55 been that under certain circumstances a box sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of F ig.` which it is desired to restrain from passingk l, illustrating a detail of the control member into the intersection will come to rest supand positionin mechanism of my invention. ported partly upon a dead conveyer and part- Fig. 7 is a ragmentary vertical sectional ly on a live one'. Thus supported, the box view taken on the line 7 7- of Fig. 1, illus- 7 may be dragged slowly onto the live conveyer trating another detail of said control memjustin time to be carried into the intersection ber and positioning mechanism. and foul another box havingthe right of Way. Fig. 8 is a vertical cross sectional detail In my copending application on a conveyer` view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6.

control filed herewith, I have disclosed a Fig. 9 is a fragmentary bottom plan view switch'which `cannot be made to jam in this of aforesaid control member andA is, taken in manner. The switch disclosed herein also the direction of the arrow 9 in Fig. 6. has this advantage. In the other switch, conl Referring specifically to the drawings, the trol of the feeder conveyer is accomplished by embodiment of my invention illustrated hereengagement of the control member with a in comprises an automatic conveyer intersecfront portionof an article on the feeder conf tion Switch 10, which includes a primary conf Veyl a-Ild'tl'lls by the fact that 8, Veyer 11 `and a Secondary conveyer T he Precedlg box 1S earned" out 0f the Way by primary conveyer` 11 operates continually to the n lam, Coneyer- HOWQVH, thfle. are convey articles, such as boxes of orangesll,

Sltl'ltlons 1n Whlh thls expedlent mlght not in the direction of the arrow 15. The secondbe s ed', i 4 f ary conveyer 12 is operated by a power trans- It 1s acordmgly an Object 0f th1s.1.nl'ent10n mission means 18 in the direction of the ar` to. Plfovlde other and novel faclhtles' for row 19 to deliver boxes 14 onto the primary 40 El gltygllrtg giroggy on a con' conveyer 11. Interference of' boxes, dis- 9g,

In certain circumstances where control of a dl'gd from Ehe tscondrzh cqnzeyer t.12 conveyer by an article thereon is required, W1. hes plsmg. mug e m lelrec lon the articles are disposed in single file one Swltc on e Primary .colweyer 1s pre vented by a power transmission control memclosely behind another on the conveyer. In order to bring a control member and a moving` ber 201 the POSltlOnmg of Whlcha t0 Prevent 95 article into operative vengagement I have .Such interferencfb. iS aCC0mP1Sh ed by a C911- l found it necessary 'to displace an article from JI'Ol member POSltlOIllIlg IIIeChiUllSnl 2l which' i its normal path of travel on the conveyer. 1s actuated by boxes 14. approaching the 1ninvention to provide means for moving a veyer 11.

It is accordingly a further object of my tersection switch 10 on the primary con- 100 The pm'marg/ conveyer 11 The'v secondary conveyer 12 The secondary conveyer 12 includes an ordinary conveyer belt 40 which is supported in the usual manner on a frame 41, which includes longitudinal members 42 and 43 and posts 44 supporting these. The longitudinal members 42 and 43 abut against and are secured to the longitudinal member 32. Supported in upright position on the members 32 and 42 at their juncture is afreely rotatable roller 45.

Journalled in suitable bearings attached to horizontal members 42 and 43 is a shaft 50 carrying a pulley drum 51 and a sprocket 52. The conveyer belt 40 extends around the drum 51 so as to be driven thereby in the direction of the arrow 19, when the drum 51 .is in motion. Supported on a shaft 55 which journals in suitable bearings provided on the legs 44 is a clutch 57 and a pinion sprocket 58. Disposed about the shaft 55 and keeping the clutch 57 normally closed is a spring 59 which is adapted to be compressed by a clutch lever 60 which is fulcrumed at one end on the frame 41. The clutch 57 is adapted to be rovtated by a ring sprocket 61 provided on the outer shell thereof and engaged by a chain 62. The chain 62 continuously rotates the ring sprocket 61 and outer shell of the clutch 57 in the direction of the arrow 63. The sprocket 58 is connected to the sprocket 52 by a chain 64 so that whenever the clutch 57 is thrown in, the belt 40 is placed in motion.

Transmission control member and positioning mechanism cured upon the upper end of theshaft is an extensible contacting member which includes an arm 76 upon which a shell 77 is slidably mounted as shown. Provided upon the arm 76 is a stop 78 which limits the outward movement of the shell 77. Rotatably mounted in a bifurcated end portion of the shell 77 is a roller 80.

The control member positioning mechanism 21 includes a shaft 85 extending throughout the length of the thimble shaft 70 and having an arm 86 secured to its uppers-end and an arm 87 to is lower end. The outer end of the arm 86 is pivotally connected to one end of a link 88, the other end of which is pivotally secured by a cap screw 89 to the shell 77 of the extensible member 75.

'Also includedin the positioning mechanism 21 1s a swngably mounted box contacting bar 95 which pivotally connects outer ends of arms 96 provided on vertical shafts 97 and 98, which are rotatably supported in suitable bearings 99 secured to the frame 31. Secured upon the lower end of the shaft 97 is an arm 100 which is continually urged against a stop 101, provided on the frame 31, by a contractile spring 102. When thel arm 100 is against the stop- 101 the swingable bar 95 is in its inwardmost position as shown in Fig. 1, in which position it is adapted to be contacted by a box moving toward it on the primary conveyer 11 so as to swing this bar 95 into its outwardmost position in which it is shown in Figs. 3, 4 and.

Connecting the outer ends of the arm 100 and the arm 87 is a compressible link 105 which includes a rigid tube 106, one end of whlch is pivoted to the arm 100. At the opposite end of the arm 100 is provided a rod 107, the outer end of which is threaded and extends through a slide block 108, a stud 109 of which extends through and pivots in the outer end of the arm 87. Screwed upon the end of the rod 107 are a pair of lock nuts 110 which prevent the withdrawal of this rod from the block 108. Disposed between the block 108 and the adjacent end of the tube 106 1s a compression spring 112 which yieldably maintains these in spaced relation. Provided on suitable supports on the longitudinal members42 and`43are box guides 65 and 66,

the purpose of which will be made evident later.

Operation K Boxes 14 are shown traveling on the primaryandhsecondary conveyers 11 and 12 respectivelyin Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5, in a succession of positions which illustrate how the intersection 10 works to prevent boxes dischargedfrom the secondary conveyer 12 from interfering with boxes traveling on the primary conveyer 11. For convenience, the boxes 14 will be identified as boxes A, B, C and D. In Fig. 1, box A is just passing the point of juncture between conveyers 11 and 12 and has just passed out of contact with the swinging bar 95 permit-ting this to swing into the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1.

Box B is following box A on the conveyer 11 l and is just approaching contact with the swinging bar 95, Boxes C and D are traveling on the conveyer 12 in close succession, the

front end rtion of box .C havin just traveled past t e extensible arm 75 o the trans-y pressing the spring 112 against this block.

This places the shaft 85 under torque, tending to swing the arm 86 and thrust the shell 77 of the extensible arm 75 across the path of movement of boxes C and D. This causes the contact roller 80 to be forced against the side of box C as shown in Fig. 3 at a point to the rear of the highest point 115 of the drum 51 where the u per flight of the belt 40 begins to bend aroun this drum.

The significance of applying a pressure against box C by the roller 80 in this manner is illustrated in Fig. 4. Here, box A has drawn entirely away from the point of juncture of the conveyers 11 and 12, box B is still some distance from arriving at this point of juncture, and the center of gravity of box C has just passed over the high point 115 of the drum 51 with the result that the pressure of the roller 80 against the rear portion of this box shifts this portion of box C laterally so that the front portion 116 of box D is uncovered. Thus the roller 80 is enabled nism 21 so that it comes into contact with Lbox D and is carried by the latter under the propulsion of the secondary conveyer`12 so as to rotate the thimble shaft 70, thus swinging the clutch control lever and throwing out the clutch 57, which causes motion of the conveyer 12 to be discontinued. As shown in Fig. 5, the swinging bar 95 is of ample length to prevent box B from arriving at the point of juncture between the conveyers 11 and 12 before box C is'completely transferred onto the conveyer 11.

' When box B has travelled into the position in which box A is seen in Fig. 1 the swinging bar 95 is released to swing back, under the urging of the spring 102, into the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1,` which causes all parts of the control memberA positioning mechanism 21 to resume their positions as lshown in Fig. 1. This results in the retraction ofthe extensible member 7 5,l withdrawing the roller 80 'out of contact with box B, thus permitting the shaft to berotated under the pressure of the spring 59 to its normal position whereby the clutch 57 is thrown in, thus reconnecting the power transmission through which the secondary conveyer 12 is driven. At the instant the secondary conveyer 12 is thus placed in motion, box D is in the same position as box C in Fig. "1, and box B is in the same position as box A, with the result that the interference between boxes B and D is avoided at the intersection in the same manner thatv the interference was avoided by the boxes A and C. The conditions illustrated in the drawings are what might be known as limit conditions, in other words, conditionsl which are most likely to cause interference at the intersection, embodying my invention, is impossible.

I regard as one of the distinctive features of my invention the shifting of an article carried on a conveyer so as to facilitate -the engagement of an article propelled by this conveyer with control. means for controlling movement of this conveyer or preventing interference of this'article with articles carried on another conveyer onto which the First conveyer discharges.

While I have shown but ai single embodiment of my invention it is to be understood 4that various modifications may be made in stopping and starting said conveyer, said control being actuated to stop said conveyer when moved in the direction in which this conveyer travels; and means for moving said control acrossl the path of travel of boxes on said conveyer to displace a leadingbox from in front of a following box and permit the latter to actuate said control to stop saidconveyer. Y

2. A combination as in claim 1 including means for withdrawing said control from in front of said box, said control starting said conveyer when so withdrawn and while still opposite said box.

3. In combination: a power driven conveyer adapted to carry boxes; a control member adapted to be engaged by a box and moved 1n the direction of `travel of said conveyer to accomptlish a control function;

and means for shi ing said member across said direction'of travel to displace a leading y moved-in the direction of travel of saidconveyer to .accomplish the control function;

lowing box and permit the latter to actuate said control member, the displacingofv said leading box tending to assist this in turning 1D day of January, 1930.

at said intersection onto the other of said conve ers.

5.' combination as in claim 3 in which said control member is shifted across the di- 5 rection of travel of the conveyer with a yieldable pressure. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 3rd DANA E. KEECH. v 

